Lichess and Take Take Take Sign Cooperation Agreement

The agreement

It has been reported that earlier this year Take Take Take approached Lichess with an unusual offer: instead of building a proprietary “walled garden,” they asked to run their play zone on Lichess’s infrastructure and share its “digital commons.” Lichess says it considered the proposal cautiously — wary at first, as many companies have pitched ideas that clash with its values — but after vetting the team behind Take Take Take, the platform agreed the partnership could be positive for chess as a whole.

Under the deal, games initiated through Take Take Take will run on Lichess servers. New players coming via Take Take Take will sign up for Lichess accounts, use Lichess infrastructure, and — according to Lichess — receive the same data rights, privacy protections, and moderation standards as all other users. It has been reported that Lichess will provide its software, developer expertise, moderation and operational support; in short, Take Take Take will lean on a mature, battle-tested stack rather than reinventing the wheel.

Why it matters

This is a win for open source proponents, Lichess says, and a small victory for the idea that digital commons can outcompete closed, capital-heavy offerings. Think Linux: the code is free, but the scaling and know‑how are where value gets packaged. More competition in the chess ecosystem could mean dollars get reinvested into the game instead of flowing up to investors, Lichess argues. That pressure to innovate — better features, bigger events, smarter moderation — should, in theory, lift the whole online chess scene.

Lichess was clear about its non-negotiables: the platform will remain free and open source, any play zone using its software must be free to play, and user data integrity and privacy are paramount. For the Lichess community this feels like validation — not just another partnership, but recognition that an open, volunteer-driven project can be the backbone for millions of games a day. Who wouldn’t feel a little proud? After a decade and a half of pushing fast time controls and tight technical optimisation, Lichess is stepping into a new role: not just a site to play on, but an infrastructure layer for free online chess.

Sources: lichess.org, Hacker News